Spanish Via Skypehttps://spanishviaskype.com
Spanish classes on SkypeWed, 15 Feb 2017 21:31:53 +0000en-US
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1 https://wordpress.org/?v=5.2.1Time is relative (C1)https://spanishviaskype.com/time-is-relative-c1-2/
https://spanishviaskype.com/time-is-relative-c1-2/#respondWed, 15 Feb 2017 07:00:23 +0000http://spanishviaskype.com/?p=6144Albert Einstein was a man ahead of his time… or maybe “behind of his time”. Not for nothing, he said: “El tiempo es relativo (time is relative)”. Actually, he was not a brilliant boy at school, according to his teachers. However, he became the most recognized scientist in the 20th century. As a result of [...]

]]>Albert Einstein was a man ahead of his time… or maybe “behind of his time”. Not for nothing, he said: “El tiempo es relativo (time is relative)”. Actually, he was not a brilliant boy at school, according to his teachers. However, he became the most recognized scientist in the 20th century.

As a result of his famous quote about time, this has been used by everybody to make excuses for a delay: lo siento, papá, no he llegado tarde; el tiempo es relativo (sorry dad, I’m not late; time is relative). Of course, time is a very important variable in linguistics. Therefore, in Spanish we have plenty of forms to express it (adverbs, verbs and phrases). Keep Reading to learn some idioms and phrases related to time.

Today we’ll offer our students on www.spanishviaskype.com some colloquial expressions sorted into two different meanings: rápidamente (quickly) and de vez en cuando (once in a while).

Firstly, let’s see some of them which describe an action that happened in a brief period of time:

En un abrir y cerrar de ojos (in the blink of an eye): Tom Brady remontó el resultado de la Superbawl en un abrir y cerrar de ojos(Tom Brady got the comeback to win the Superbowl in the blink of an eye). It was as quick as unexpected.

En menos que canta un gallo (in two shakes of a lamb’s tail – literally, “in less than a rooster sings”): Le pedí ayuda y en menos que canta un gallo estaba aquí (I asked him for help and he was here in two shakes of a lamb). It might sound funny, a rooster singing at dawn, but it’s not if you are its neighbour.

En un santiamén (in a flash). Hoy la reunión ha terminado en un santiamén, debe de ser porque hay partido de fútbol (today the meeting finished in a flash; maybe it was due to the football game). Santiamén is a curious word. It has a religious origin: the prayers used to be finished with the Latin words “Spiritus Sancti, Amen” (of the Holy Spirit, Amen).

Finally, we’ll finish with phrases that mean “low frequency”:

De higos a brevas (from time to time – Literally, “from ripe figs to green ones”). En la Edad Media, la gente se lavaba de higos a brevas (In the Middle-Ages, people used to wash up from time to time). In Spanish we have these two words for the same fruit: breva is a premature fig (reaped around May or June) and higo is the last stage of it (July or August). So if we do something in July and we don’t do it again until May, it’s almost a year.

De Pascuas a Ramos (Once in a blue moon – Literally, “from Easter to Palm Sunday”). Veo a mis primos de Pascuas a Ramos; en bodas y funerales (I meet my cousins once in a blue moon, at weddings and funerals). It’s similar to the previous one. Pascuas is celebrated after el Domingo de Ramos, so, almost a year will pass between both festivities.

Cada Corpus y San Juan (from time to time – literally, every Corpus Christi’s Day and St. John’s Day). Este tío trabaja cada Corpus y San Juan (this guy works from time to time). The festivity of Corpus Christi is movable; it’s depending on the first full moon after vernal equinox. St. John’s Day is always the 24th of June. So, it’s hardly difficult that both dates coincide the same day (last time was in 1943).

To sum up, if you are a student of ours on www.spanishviaskype.com, we wish you reserve classes not de Pascuas a Ramos. On the other hand, if you want to start studying Spanish via Skype, don’t hesitate, reserve a free trial class here. We’ll contact you en menos que canta un gallo.

]]>https://spanishviaskype.com/time-is-relative-c1-2/feed/0¡Vamos, Rafa! (B2)https://spanishviaskype.com/vamos-rafa-b2/
https://spanishviaskype.com/vamos-rafa-b2/#respondWed, 01 Feb 2017 07:00:25 +0000http://spanishviaskype.com/?p=6058Last weekend, the world of sports, specifically tennis, wrote a new page of its book of history. The Spanish player, Rafa Nadal and the Swiss one, Roger Federer, played their 9th Grand Slam’s final. The Australian Open was the tournament which we could delight in. At this point, not many people thought we could see [...]

]]>Last weekend, the world of sports, specifically tennis, wrote a new page of its book of history. The Spanish player, Rafa Nadal and the Swiss one, Roger Federer, played their 9th Grand Slam’s final. The Australian Open was the tournament which we could delight in.

At this point, not many people thought we could see again this happening. They both arrived at this final after their worst losing streak, due to injuries. However, that was not enough to deprive us of watching one of the best tennis games ever. Rafa did not win (3-2 for Federer) but we finally could hear again his popular ¡vamos!But what does it mean?

Vamos it’s a kind of imperative form of verb ir. The proper term should be vayamos (the present subjunctive for nosotros – we). Nevertheless, vamos has been fixed in Spanish language (lexicalized, in grammar slang); this phenomenon is called imperativos lexicalizados. Remember that imperative tense is the commonest way to express a command in any language. What makes this forms so special is that they lose their original meaning in order to indicate feelings or emotions. Let’s see some examples.

¡Vamos!: literally, “Let’s go”, it often loses this movement sense for showing an idea of ánimo (encouragement). That’s why Rafa Nadal usually says: “¡vamos, Rafa!”: he encourages himself during his games.

¡Anda!: literally, “walk”, we don’t mean somebody to walk. Imagine a friend of yours tells you that he’s just met Roger Federer in the street; a good answer from you could be: ¡anda! It’s a very popular way to show sorpresa (surprise).

¡Anda ya!: a variation of the previous one. In this case we don’t exactly mean surprise, but incredulidad (incredulity, disbelief). ¿Has visto a Federer? ¡Anda ya! (Have you seen Federer? No way!).

¡Vaya!: again the verb ir (to go). Now with the form of courtesy (usted), we can express lamentación (sorrow). ¿Tu hermano está en el hospital? ¡Vaya! (Is your brother in the hospital? Sorry). Moreover, we can mean other emotions if vaya is followed by a noun: ¡Vaya coche que te has comprado! (what a car you bought! – admiración – admiration); ¡vaya partido ha jugado mi equipo! 3-0 hemos perdido (what a game my team played! We lost 3-0 – enfado o decepción – annoyance or disappointment).

¡Venga!: typical expression said by a father who is waiting for his children to be ready for going to school: ¡venga, que no llegamos! (come on! We’ll be late). We show apremio (urgency) here.

In conclusion, we hope our students on www.spanishviaskype.com will use this imperativos, not only playing tennis, but also in their daily life. ¡Venga, reserva ya una clase de español con nosotros por Skype! (come on! Reserve a Spanish lesson with us via Skype). If you want to try it first totally free, just click here.¡Vamos, tú puedes hablar español como nosotros! (come on! You can speak Spanish just like us).

]]>https://spanishviaskype.com/vamos-rafa-b2/feed/0After the storm… (C1)https://spanishviaskype.com/after-the-storm-c1-3/
https://spanishviaskype.com/after-the-storm-c1-3/#respondWed, 18 Jan 2017 07:00:30 +0000http://spanishviaskype.com/?p=6022Después de la tormenta, llega la calma (after storm, comes calm). After Christmas’ festivities, a new year, full of new resolutions and expectations, has come: will the president Trump destabilize the world’s balance? Will the terrorism vanish or will it recrudesce? Who will be the new footbal world or European champion? Wait, there’s no international [...]

]]>Después de la tormenta, llega la calma (after storm, comes calm). After Christmas’ festivities, a new year, full of new resolutions and expectations, has come: will the president Trump destabilize the world’s balance? Will the terrorism vanish or will it recrudesce? Who will be the new footbal world or European champion? Wait, there’s no international football championship this year? What a lost year!

Nevertheless, what we’ll have these first months is the inclement weather. Europe and USA are suffering snow storms and a severe decrease of temperatures. Today, we’re going to help our students on www.spanishviaskype.com understand el parte or la predicción del tiempo (the weather forecast) in Spanish.

Are you stuck and isolated in a hut, far away in a Spanish mountain, in the middle of nowhere? All covered with snow; maybe your only contact with the civilization is an old TV set; therefore the only way to know when you will be free again is understanding the weatherman.

First of all, let’s see what kind of tormenta (storm) is coming:

Un temporal: is a big storm, especially rainstorm.

Una tempestad: it’s similar to temporal but more used in naval language.

Un vendaval: a gale, not as serius as temporal.

Un aguacero or chaparrón: heavy rainfall but in a brief period of time.

Una borrasca: it’s a tempestad or a heavy temporal with strong winds, abundant precipitation and thunderstorms.

Una ventisca: it’s a borrasca with wind and maybe snow, usual in mountains.

In addition to storms, el viento (wind) can be annoying, la niebla (fog), disturbing, los truenos (thunders) frightening but nothing as feeling water hitting your head in such different ways. Let’s see how we express these actions:

Llover: the simplest way, just liquid water over your head (to rain).

Rociar: those pleasant drops you can see on the flowers at dawn (to fall as dew).

Lloviznarorchispear: not enough to get wet but neither to be dry (to drizzle).

Nevar: a dream for snowboarders and skiers, a nightmare for mayors and town councillors (to snow).

In conclusion, if you don’t want to suffer the inclemencies of weather, let us give you an advice: why don’t you stay at home, warm and safe, and start learning Spanish via Skype? Don’t think it twice and reserve a free trial lesson. Because next time you come to Spain, we’re sure that el sol volverá a brillar (the sun will shine again).

]]>https://spanishviaskype.com/5895/feed/0Latest news: Cervantes was not Spanish-born! (A2)https://spanishviaskype.com/latest-news-cervantes-was-not-spanish-born-a2-3/
https://spanishviaskype.com/latest-news-cervantes-was-not-spanish-born-a2-3/#respondWed, 28 Dec 2016 07:00:53 +0000http://spanishviaskype.com/?p=5869The recient discovery of a very old document in an Italian village has shaken the foundations of Spanish language’s pride. According to a birth certificate found in the ruins of an ancient church, Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra was born in Castelnuovo Berardenga, in the province of Siena. During the demolition of the temple, a worker [...]

]]>The recient discovery of a very old document in an Italian village has shaken the foundations of Spanish language’s pride. According to a birth certificate found in the ruins of an ancient church, Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra was born in Castelnuovo Berardenga, in the province of Siena. During the demolition of the temple, a worker saw a bundle of papers, which were supposed to be hidden inside a blank wall.

The certificate is clear, Michele di Cervanti Savedara was born and lived for a few years in Italy. The linguistic community is devastated. Cervantes was the symbol of our literature and Spanish is associated with this genius.

Keep on reading to find out all the reactions and comments.

Did you really believed that news? Inocente, inocente. With this words in a proper entonation that sounds like a mockery, we call people who believe an astonishing but false news in the 28th of December. Today, we celebrate el Día de los Inocentes (Innocents Day), when we commemorate the massacre of all young male children by Herod the Great. This tragic event is now celebrated in Spain with the inherent feature that a child has: la inocencia (innocence) or the possibility of being fooled by a prankster.

Many newspapers highlight in their front page these unbelievable news; some of them clear up the situation inside the paper, but others wait until the following day to admit that all was a prank.

We have different ways to name these actions in Spanish that can be confused by English speakers:

Chiste: it’s a joke we tell somebody. They are often short stories with a funny but ambiguous ending we have to understand before starting to laugh.

Broma: it’s a joke or prank we make somebody: we execute an action that can fool that person. If that broma is not well received by the victim we call it broma pesada(practical joke).

Travesura: it’s the classical mischief we have to bear if we are around kids, not malicious but annoying. We call these boys traviesos (naughty).

Acoso: if these bromas pesadas or travesuras remain in time and the victim feels more hounded than fooled, we enter in dangerous situations: el acoso escolar (bullying), el acoso laboral (mobbing) or el acoso sexual en la red (grooming) are felonies that no tenemos que tomarnos a broma (we must take seriously).

Engaño, ardid, argucia: tricks in general; ways to fool or cheat somebody. Engaño is more general, ardid is more formal and obsolete and finally argucia is more used in legal jargón.

Our intention with this post today is not engañar nor acosar (of course) our students on www.spanishviaskype.com, but just laugh together. If you want an idea for a good new year resolution you could book a free trial lesson here to study Spanish via Skype: esto no es una broma.

]]>https://spanishviaskype.com/latest-news-cervantes-was-not-spanish-born-a2-3/feed/0Winter holidays (A2)https://spanishviaskype.com/5767-2/
https://spanishviaskype.com/5767-2/#respondWed, 07 Dec 2016 04:50:17 +0000http://spanishviaskype.com/?p=5767In a couple of weeks Christmas holidays will be here, and many of us will have the opportunity to enjoy a few days with our families, friends or just travelling. The thing is that during this time of the year, only in Spain there will be around 13,6 million people travelling. If this is your [...]

]]>In a couple of weeks Christmas holidays will be here, and many of us will have the opportunity to enjoy a few days with our families, friends or just travelling. The thing is that during this time of the year, only in Spain there will be around 13,6 million people travelling.

If this is your case and you are planning to spend your holidays in a Spanish speaking country, here you have some helpful information to have a nice adventure while you meet new people and different traditions.

You will probably get here by plane (en avión) so you need to be sure that you have your ticket (billete) and your passport (pasaporte) with you when you get to the airport (aeropuerto). Once your are there, you have to look first, for the terminal (terminal) you need to go to, and then wait in a queue (hacer cola) to check in (facturar el equipaje) and get your boarding pass (tarjeta de embarque).

After the checkpoint (control de seguridad), you will wait to board (embarcar) in the departure lounge (sala de embarque). Once you are inside the airplane listen carefully to the flight attendant (auxiliar de vuelo/azafata) and don’t forget to fasten your seatbelt (abrocharse el cinturón de seguridad). Get ready to take off (despegar): look at those amazing landscapes (paisajes) from that altitude!

Now the plane has landed (aterrizar), if you are lucky, you will be the first to see your luggage (equipaje), if not, go to the airline desk (mostrador de la compañía aérea) and fill in the complaint form (reclamación).

Do you have everything with you now? Great, you can’t wait to get lost (perderse) in the city! You can rent a car (alquilar un coche), take a taxi (coger/tomar un taxi), take the metro (coger/tomar el metro) or take the bus (coger/tomar el autobús).

This is just the first part of your journey, if you want to learn a lot more about the next steps, why don’t you try our free trial class in Spanishviaskype? We will be very pleased to meet you!

]]>https://spanishviaskype.com/5767-2/feed/0Cyber Monday: De compras en la red (A2)https://spanishviaskype.com/cyber-monday-compras-la-red-a2-2/
https://spanishviaskype.com/cyber-monday-compras-la-red-a2-2/#respondWed, 30 Nov 2016 07:00:59 +0000http://spanishviaskype.com/?p=5754The consumist storm finally passed away; or maybe is it just taking a break? Last Friday the whole world had the chance to buy all those kind of things we don’t really need, but you know what? It doesn’t matter, they are on sale! ¿Y si las necesito en el futuro? (What if I need [...]

]]>The consumist storm finally passed away; or maybe is it just taking a break? Last Friday the whole world had the chance to buy all those kind of things we don’t really need, but you know what? It doesn’t matter, they are on sale! ¿Y si las necesito en el futuro? (What if I need them eventually?). Black Friday has become the most profitable day for shops of all kind. even more than Christmas Day.

Nevertheless, do we have enough with that day? Never it’s enough: three days later, Cyber Monday took us to the stores, but in a more comfortable way, from home. It’s the future, as our students on www.spanishviaskype.com know. With just a click from your mouse, a universe of products are within reach. Today, we’re going to learn vocabulary to buy in a Spanish site with no fear.

Suscríbete, Regístrate, crear una cuenta: all of these terms you can find to “sign in” a web site or to create a new account.

Identifícate, accede, entra…: once you have an account, you can “log in” the system with un nombre de usuario y una contraseña (a username and a password).

La cesta, el carrito: if you liked a product you can press the button that says añadir a la cesta (add to cart) or maybe just comprar (buy). All your selections will be stored in la cesta (the basket) or el carrito (the cart) until you finish your shopping.

Tramitar el pedido, iniciar compra…: at this point, your consumist impulses may still have a solution. This is the moment when you’ll confirm your information.

Dirección de envío: here you should fill it with your “shipping address”.

Dirección de facturación: if your “billing address” is different from the previous one, you can fill this field.

Código promocional: haven’t you ever searched for a promotional code in Google? It’s funny, it’s like going fishing: It’s time to pay, a blank field called código promocional is in front of you and you can’t accept not having one. You think a good Samaritan might have shared one of his on the Internet, and of course, you have to find it.

Gastos de envío: perhaps the hatest expression of its kind. Shipping or delivery costs inflate el total de tu pedido (your order total). We can often find three kind of them: Envío gratuito (free shipping), envío normal o regular (standard shipping) and envío rápido (expedited shipping).

Correo de confirmación: if you receive this “confirmation email” no hay vuelta atrás (there is no way back). Your order has been processed.

As you can see, it’s very simple to buy something on the Net. The most difficult task is to know what you really need to buy. Why don’t you try to buy some Spanish classes via Skype? It’s comfortable and convenient. We, unlike other e-commerce companies, offer you the chance to try our products totally free. Reserve your 20 minutes free trial lesson here. Why just a Cyber Monday and not a “Cyber everyday”?

]]>https://spanishviaskype.com/siempre-la-moda-b1-3/feed/0La política: el arte del debate (B2)https://spanishviaskype.com/la-politica-arte-del-debate-b2-2/
https://spanishviaskype.com/la-politica-arte-del-debate-b2-2/#respondWed, 09 Nov 2016 07:00:03 +0000http://spanishviaskype.com/?p=5190Many things are at stake at this moment; not only in the USA but worldwide. Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are living their last minutes as USA presidential candidates, and just one of them will live in the White House for the next four years. However, they had to fight each other, felony accusations and [...]

]]>Many things are at stake at this moment; not only in the USA but worldwide. Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are living their last minutes as USA presidential candidates, and just one of them will live in the White House for the next four years.

However, they had to fight each other, felony accusations and their own fellow party members during the last months. These troubles unleashed fierce debates that will be down in history. Today, our www.spanishviaskype.com students will learn how to express opinions in Spanish in very different ways.

Debatir (to debate) can be considered an art. From the Classical Antiquity to our age, la retórica (rethoric) was able to change the future of a person, a city or the world. La política (politics) drinks directly from rethoric and a good performance in a debate in the electoral race can influence the polls definitely.

We have many patterns to express our opinions, but the double verbal mode (indicative vs subjunctive) makes it a little more interesting.

]]>https://spanishviaskype.com/la-politica-arte-del-debate-b2-2/feed/0¿Qué hora es? (A1)https://spanishviaskype.com/que-hora-es-a1-3/
https://spanishviaskype.com/que-hora-es-a1-3/#respondWed, 26 Oct 2016 02:14:09 +0000http://spanishviaskype.com/que-hora-es-a1/In Spanishviaskype we share many things with our students, specially the interest about our beautiful language, but one thing that most of the times don’t have in common is the time zone (huso horario). Winter is coming and next weekend in Spain and all countries from the European Union we are going to leave the [...]

]]>In Spanishviaskype we share many things with our students, specially the interest about our beautiful language, but one thing that most of the times don’t have in common is the time zone (huso horario).

Winter is coming and next weekend in Spain and all countries from the European Union we are going to leave the daylight saving time behind (horario de verano) to go back to standard time (horario de invierno). So on Saturday at 3:00 am we will set the clock back an hour (retrasaremos el reloj una hora). In other countries from the Northern hemisphere, like USA an Canada, they will change to standard time the first Sunday of November.

Our timetable is made with Madrid time, but if you want to be sure about the time we have, you can ask your teachers…

¿Qué hora es? – What time is it?

You have to be careful with the concord between the hour and the verb, so if one is singular, the verb must be singular. We use the verb SER (to be) to speak about time:

Es la una en punto (It’s one o’clock)

Son las dos, tres, cuatro, cinco… (It’s two, three, four, five…)

Es tarde (It’s late)

Es muy temprano aún (It’s still too early)

Sometimes we don’t say the minutes exactly because it’s not important or because we are not sure, and we can use some expressions to tell the time approximately:

Don’t you want to learn more about time and many other things? Come on! Time is money (el tiempo es oro) and if you start classes with us you will enjoy so much that you will feel time flies (el tiempo vuela) learning Spanish at Spanishviaskype.